"Stop-Loss (Film 46)
After the snow storm, I was lucky enough to play in a pond hockey tournament up in China, ME with a buddy of mine and a few of his friends. It was a blast, playing hockey outdoors all day, but I quickly realized I'm slightly out of shape in terms of my endurance. Still had fun. I get to see this buddy of mine every so often, since we live about an hour away from each other and have crazy schedules. I met him on a baseball trip I took through my college a few years ago (well, I took the trip 5 times, one of those courses you couldn't fail!) and we bonded over our mutual love for all things Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. We were actually roommates on the trip, too. We've been friends ever since. I was even invited/went to their wedding about 3 years ago (didn't even think they'd remember, but they did).
Monday night I had dinner and quality time with two great college friends of mine. It's amazing to me, thinking about the friends I've made/kept throughout my life. Certain people tend to be in your life for a specific amount of time and you drift in and out of each other's lives, or just disappear completely after getting what you need out of each other...but, with quite a few of my closest friends, I cannot imagine not having them in my life. My friends have been there through a lot of stuff with me and I consider myself quite lucky to count on them.
So, last night was my next chance to catch up on watching a film. I chose "Stop-Loss" which is an MTV produced film by Kimberly Peirce (the writer/director of "Boys Don't Cry"). She can certainly tell an amazing, emotional story. Here, her topic of choice is the War in Iraq- focusing on a small group of soldiers upon their return to Texas after a tour of duty. I enjoyed how she decided to open the film with a sequence of events taking place on the front lines in Iraq, because it certainly helps you understand the emotional toll it takes on the soldiers upon their return home. Some of them know nothing else but the military life. Some of them return still stuck, mentally, in a war zone. And others want nothing to do with the military. We encounter a whole mixed bag of emotions with these characters.
Ryan Phillippe plays a soldier who returns from his tour and he is ready/under the assumption that he is done, until he finds out he has been called back into duty (that's where the film's title comes from "Stop-Loss"). Now, apparently this happened quite often during the Iraq War, because of the lack of new sign-ups and even the return of soldiers. The theme of the War I got was that it became a clusterfuck rather quickly that was not exactly well-thought out. End strategy? None. Not wanting to be Stop-lossed, Ryan decides to go AWOL for the length of the film (until the end, which really disappointed me, in a way, but I can also sort of understand why he returns to the military). We follow him as he embarks on a new mission. A mission of getting himself out of the Army.
Channing Tatum plays his soldier and old-time friend who is devoted to life with/in the Army and he doesn't understand why Ryan is not being as faithful to the family that "made him who he is." His character is clearly experiencing some PTSD. In fact, I would say, this film really focused on the aftermath of going to war and seeing/experiencing many terrible things that other "regular" people here in America may not experience in their daily lives.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also a supporting actor in the story and he seems like the one who comes back from war severely messed up. He turns to alcohol and his wife has a restraining order against him. He is a lost soul.
The best supporting role, though, goes to the female character played by Abbie Cornish, in a star-making role, she plays a hard-nosed girl/best friend to Ryan Phillippe's character. She takes him on this road trip to basically save his life. She is there for him in his time of need. She is the friend he truly needs and know he can turn to. I loved her character for her brutal honesty, and at the end of the film, I felt like all the men in her life had betrayed her by choosing the Army over her, but the great thing about her is that you know she will still love them, regardless. "You don't mess with Texas" after all.
I was sort of amazed that MTV could produce such an emotionally jarring film, but I must say kudos to them for choosing Peirce as the writer/director because it most certainly could've turned into another one of their sappy/lame films.
In my opinion they have a spotty record but here are the films I've enjoyed put out by them:
1. Varsity Blues (another Texas film, in which Ali Larter plays another pivotal female character, but James Van Der Beek is the lead actor in this high school football film)
Hands-down though, the best football film is "Friday Night Lights" follow that up with the television series and you won't feel the same way about football ever again.
2. Election (Reese Witherspoon and Mathew Broderick in a great high school film about class elections)
3. Napoleon Dynamite (sleeper film when it first came out that became a huge success. Pretty much the most hilarious film)
Honorable Mention:
Save the Last Dance
Crossroads (you knew I would include Britney Spears' attempt at starring on the big screen).
Monday night I had dinner and quality time with two great college friends of mine. It's amazing to me, thinking about the friends I've made/kept throughout my life. Certain people tend to be in your life for a specific amount of time and you drift in and out of each other's lives, or just disappear completely after getting what you need out of each other...but, with quite a few of my closest friends, I cannot imagine not having them in my life. My friends have been there through a lot of stuff with me and I consider myself quite lucky to count on them.
So, last night was my next chance to catch up on watching a film. I chose "Stop-Loss" which is an MTV produced film by Kimberly Peirce (the writer/director of "Boys Don't Cry"). She can certainly tell an amazing, emotional story. Here, her topic of choice is the War in Iraq- focusing on a small group of soldiers upon their return to Texas after a tour of duty. I enjoyed how she decided to open the film with a sequence of events taking place on the front lines in Iraq, because it certainly helps you understand the emotional toll it takes on the soldiers upon their return home. Some of them know nothing else but the military life. Some of them return still stuck, mentally, in a war zone. And others want nothing to do with the military. We encounter a whole mixed bag of emotions with these characters.
Ryan Phillippe plays a soldier who returns from his tour and he is ready/under the assumption that he is done, until he finds out he has been called back into duty (that's where the film's title comes from "Stop-Loss"). Now, apparently this happened quite often during the Iraq War, because of the lack of new sign-ups and even the return of soldiers. The theme of the War I got was that it became a clusterfuck rather quickly that was not exactly well-thought out. End strategy? None. Not wanting to be Stop-lossed, Ryan decides to go AWOL for the length of the film (until the end, which really disappointed me, in a way, but I can also sort of understand why he returns to the military). We follow him as he embarks on a new mission. A mission of getting himself out of the Army.
Channing Tatum plays his soldier and old-time friend who is devoted to life with/in the Army and he doesn't understand why Ryan is not being as faithful to the family that "made him who he is." His character is clearly experiencing some PTSD. In fact, I would say, this film really focused on the aftermath of going to war and seeing/experiencing many terrible things that other "regular" people here in America may not experience in their daily lives.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also a supporting actor in the story and he seems like the one who comes back from war severely messed up. He turns to alcohol and his wife has a restraining order against him. He is a lost soul.
The best supporting role, though, goes to the female character played by Abbie Cornish, in a star-making role, she plays a hard-nosed girl/best friend to Ryan Phillippe's character. She takes him on this road trip to basically save his life. She is there for him in his time of need. She is the friend he truly needs and know he can turn to. I loved her character for her brutal honesty, and at the end of the film, I felt like all the men in her life had betrayed her by choosing the Army over her, but the great thing about her is that you know she will still love them, regardless. "You don't mess with Texas" after all.
I was sort of amazed that MTV could produce such an emotionally jarring film, but I must say kudos to them for choosing Peirce as the writer/director because it most certainly could've turned into another one of their sappy/lame films.
In my opinion they have a spotty record but here are the films I've enjoyed put out by them:
1. Varsity Blues (another Texas film, in which Ali Larter plays another pivotal female character, but James Van Der Beek is the lead actor in this high school football film)
Hands-down though, the best football film is "Friday Night Lights" follow that up with the television series and you won't feel the same way about football ever again.
2. Election (Reese Witherspoon and Mathew Broderick in a great high school film about class elections)
3. Napoleon Dynamite (sleeper film when it first came out that became a huge success. Pretty much the most hilarious film)
Honorable Mention:
Save the Last Dance
Crossroads (you knew I would include Britney Spears' attempt at starring on the big screen).
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